Adelaide was heading for an unlikely victory after Andwele Slory put his side ahead in the first-half before Carlos Hernandez scored a late equaliser.

After a long, drawn-out transfer saga, Kewell finally made his debut for Melbourne and did not fail to impress, being the spearhead of almost every Victory attack during the first half.

Melbourne were dominating possession and looked the most likely to score before Adelaide took a shock lead in the 40th minute after a powerful finish from Slory.

A hopeful long ball fell to Sergio an Djik, and the Dutchman used his head to intelligently flick on the ball and release Slory on the counter-attack.

Slory raced past a scrambling Rodrigo Vargas before cutting to his right and firing a low drive past the diving Tando Velaphi.

Led by the enigmatic Kewell on debut and club stalwart, Archie Thompson, Victory made all the chances, often applying pressure to a flat Adelaide defence.

Kewell created Victory's first opportunity of the game in the 14th minute.

After taking on two United defenders with some fancy footwork, the former Liverpool man whipped in a pinpoint cross to the head of Thompson, who had peeled off at the far post, only to nod the ball wide.

Kewell's influence on the game then began to increase, as the 32-year-old moved in behind the strikers in a playmaking role.

The Qantas Socceroo began to torment United's back four, threading through a series of neat defence-splitting passes, including one in the 32nd minute, that put Danny Allsopp clean through, only for the striker to lack the pace to get on the end of it.

Kewell's last contribution of the game was a delicate flick to Thompson, who ran at Adelaide's defence before spreading to Tom Pondelijak, only for the former Central Coast Mariner to drag his shot wide.

Adelaide looked to be buoyed by their goal and began the second half full of confidence.

Their first chance came in the 50th minute via a Cassio free-kick.

The Brazilian whipped in a dangerous free-kick to the near post that required a last-ditch clearance from Victory captain, Adrian Leijer to deny the on-rushing van Djik.

United began to dominate and looked dangerous going forward, as Victory began to retreat in their play.

However Hernandez, who came on for Kewell at half-time, began to assert his influence and it was the Costa Rican who snatched a late draw for Victory in the 87th minute.

Thompson was fleet footed to the right of United's penalty box, weaving in and out of defenders before cutting the ball back for Hernandez to score with a neat finish from 12 metres.

On the star attraction Kewell, Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic told reporters: "I was very happy with his performance, absolutely over the moon. There were about 10,000 supporters out there that would have been really pleased to see Harry.

"The performance that he did for 45 minutes was phenomenal - his touches, his running, his ball passing ... I'm very happy with his performance."

He added: "Physically he's in really good shape, he's not match fit really but he did really well. I thought he really played well for 45 minutes, you could see that he wasn't out of place at all ... he's a true professional."

Adelaide coach Rini Coolen said: "His (Kewell's) movement, his touches, how he creates space for himself and how he gets some very good balls to his players - it's another level. It was very nice to watch a very high level player."

He added: “Maybe it’s a fair result. At the end of the day Melbourne Victory at least deserved a goal and if you look at the way they played, I think it was a bit better than us and they controlled the game a little bit more."

Match Details
Adelaide United FC 1 (Slory 40’)
Melbourne Victory 1 (Hernandez 89’)

Referee: David Costello
Crowd: 9,543 @ Hindmarsh Stadium

Adelaide United: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 4.Jon McKAIN (c) (25.Antony GOLEC 63’), 5.Daniel MULLEN, 6.CASSIO, 7.Zenon CARAVELLA, 8.Evgeniy LEVCHENKO (2.Osama MALIK 70’), 9.Sergio VAN DIJK, 14.Cameron WATSON, 17.Iain RAMSAY (13.RICARDO 77’), 21.Francisco USUCAR (26.Johnny MAVROMATIS 84’), 23.Andy SLORY (10.Dario VIDOSIC 63’)
Substitutes not used: 20.Nick MUNRO (gk)

Yellow cards: Slory 20’
Red cards: Nil

Melbourne Victory: 1.Tando VELAPHI, 3.FABIO, 7.Matthew KEMP (2.Matthew FOSCHINI 71’), 8.Grant BREBNER (13.Diogo FERREIRA 83’), 10.Archie THOMPSON, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS (24.Adrian MADASCHI 46’), 14.Billy CELESKI (6.Leigh BROXHAM 46’), 15.Tom PONDELJAK (11.Marco ROJAS 46’), 18.Danny ALLSOPP (9.Jean Carlos SOLARZANO 46’), 22.Harry KEWELL (16.Carlos HERNANDEZ 46’), 23.Adrian LEIJER (c)
Substitutes not used: 4.Petar FRANJIC, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk)

Yellow cards: Leijer 63’
Red cards: Nil